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Top 10 Worst Cliches
Since I'm reviewing episodes again, and the latest episode seemed to have a mixed reaction, I thought I'd tell you my top 10 worst cliches from cartoons, movies, whatever. This isn't going to be in any particular order (as you already know my biggest pet peeves), but these are just what kill a story for me. It can be done well, but it's usually not done well, nor are they often even necessary. A lot of the problem is not only how bad I find them, but how prevalent they are. Most of the cliches, I've seen everywhere. They're predictable, they're annoying, and if they're in an upcoming episode, you could probably expect me to fail it. 10: Mopey Dopey Love Talk: I do not care about romance stories in the slightest, but I can find interest in them if they're done naturally and believably. I understand that people get "the butterflies" when they've got a crush on someone, but whenever this trope comes out the story stops dead in its tracks. The dialogue is obviously unimportant and it never amounts to anything more than "I've got the hots for you." It used to be meant to find the characters quirky, now all it does it make people groan. This is a trope that can be completely cut out of any story, and that story would be pretty much the same--just a lot less painful. You can have the lovers talk about each other, or talk about themselves, but make the dialogue... you know, dialogue. Bumbling like an idiot isn't cute, it's annoying. 09: The Status Quo is God: This is my least favorite cliche, but since I've already revealed it in a previous video, I put it low on the list. When you're going to do something exciting that may result in a change of the show's dynamic, make sure you keep it that way. Often this trope completely abandons any semblance of logic in order to have things stay the same because it's easier for the writers. I mean, you can make it so that nothing has changed in the end of your story, but it has to be a smaller type of story. Even if a character forgets a lesson that they learned in a previous episode, it kind of pisses me off. If you're going to give a character a promotion, he'd better well keep that promotion, unless the episode was about how he wasn't competent enough for the job. To be fair, this trope has been done well, such as in "Stewie kills Lois/Lois kills Stewie," but it frequently comes off as insulting and just shows that the writers are determined to stay in their safe little boxes. 08: The Diabolus Ex Machina: A good friend of "The Status Quo is God" is the Diablous Ex Machina. You've heard of "Deus Ex Machina," right? A Deus Ex Machina is where something completely out of nowhere helps a character solve their problem. The Diabolous Ex Machina is its exact opposite, where all logic is put aside to knock down whatever achievement a character has. It's not as common as the Deus Ex Machina, but it's a thousand times more insulting. When a character succeeds, ideally you should feel good for them. When this is done, it makes it feel like the episode is taking a happy ending away from you specifically. Unlike "The Status Quo is God," I have not seen this done well or correctly. 07: "I Wish I had Never Met You": Then what was the point of this episode? As Norm the Genie put it in School's Out: The Musical, the character has three wishes. Wish one is usually something stupid, wish two is something massive that leads to corruption, and the third wish is inevitably "I Wish I had Never Met You." In a story, to me, the ending is the most important part. It's the reward for the journey. When this ending hits you, it's like the last whatever you just spent was totally wasted. The character learn nothing, and nothing even happened. I mean, sometimes it's nice to see a "what-if" kind of scenario, but my biggest problem with this one is its prevalence. Bring me three genie stories that don't end with "I Wish I had never met you." The only one I can think of is "Aladdin" (and no, any of its spin-offs don't count) 06: Jump Scares: I don't like these not because I get startled, but because it's lazy. Fear is about constantly keeping the audience on edge, and the best fear is created through atmosphere. Surprise is not fear, nor is it fear that lingers. True horror is what gives you nightmares, not what makes you drop your popcorn on the floor. They can work when they're used sparingly, but they're often used in the lazier works of horror, generally as the result of franchises. 05: Dumbass Dad: This is one that's solely on here for prevalence. In almost every sitcom and commercial made between now and the mid-nineties, the father in it has been portrayed as an idiot man child. It as a joke that used to be funny when it was actually subversive. Yeah, this trope was originally meant to be a parody of how sitcom fathers were usually portrayed. But any humor of this situation has been thoroughly exhausted. We need more character types. When the alternative to the trope is less common than the trope itself, then you've got a problem. 04: The Mentor Dies: Why does the mentor ALWAYS die? Just look at the Harry Potter franchise. Practically everyone who ever taught Harry died in some brutal fashion. I understand that it's a way to say "this character is now on their own and must do things for themselves," but honestly at this point it seems very arbitrary. There are ways to get the mentor out of the story without killing them off. You could turn the student into an alicorn and graduate them to your level. Yes, My Little Pony actually subverted one of the most annoying and common cliches out there. But seriously, they could be separated by distance (although that's not much better), or perhaps the mentor could decide that the character is ready to do things themselves. Actually sometimes that happens and then the character dies off anyway. 03: Gross Out Humor: There was a reason The Splinter was the first Animated Atrocity I've done. I don't exactly see the humor in an episode shoving blood, pus, shit, puke, or other bodily fluids in my face. I think it's supposed to play off of some juvenile part of our psyche, but all too often the actual "humor" of the situation seems to be nonexistent. The art of gross out humor has lost its way since Ren & Stimpy, and now they just try to squick us out instead of actually putting effort into their jokes. Newsflash animators, just because you show me bile does not mean I'm going to laugh. 02: Abusing a Character for Comedy: It's hard to make pain funny, but sometimes writers/animators don't even try. Spongebob has been known for producing a shit ton of "torture porn" where making a character (usually Squidward) suffer abuse is their way of trying to get in comedy. A character getting hurt in and of itself is not funny. Done wrong it can come off as horrifying. It's the difference between Jellyfishing and The Thing. One has the injuries amusing and makes us laugh. The other makes us cringe as it shows us a horrifying fate. Even the best shows don't avoid it. Friendship is Magic has Owl's Well That Ends Well, The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, and Putting Your Hoof Down. 01: Acting like an idiot for the Sake of Comedy When a character I know is smart misses the bleeding obvious, it makes me really mad. I find it insulting, and in a way pointless. It insults my intelligence as it obviously insults the intelligence of whatever character this is happening to. We all remember A Pal for Gary, where this cliche marries my previous one. And this is the main reason I don't like Look Before You Sleep (it's not that Twilight wanted a slumber party, it's that she didn't even notice Rarity and AJ arguing). This never EVER works. The only way it can possibly work is if the character is indeed an idiot, and with Spongebob episodes like The Card or Stuck in the Wringer, even that's a Rarity. So, you've heard my deal-breakers: the cliches that just drive me up a wall. What are the cliches that could kill an episode, movie, whatever for you? Sorry if this list seems a little sloppy, I was really just doing it impromptu. Category:Top Tens